Chapter Text
Cordelia Adeline Catapang was no stranger to the supernatural world. In fact, she herself was involved in it.
You see, her mother was a witch who came from a powerful family line of witches. The Catapang was part of one of the oldest and most powerful tribes not only in Asia, but in the world. Their ancestors maintained their ancient practices high up on the mountains of the Philippines.
Catapang derives from the Tagalog word tapang, which means courage, and courageous was what they were, but this eventually lead them to their downfall. Once a big and all powerful family then slowly died down as centuries went by due to the many enemies they started to gain.
This led Cordelia's ancestors to try and start over by migrating outside their homeland. They ended up in North America where they settled in what is now New Orleans, Louisiana. For four centuries, they were one of the most respected families of witches in New Orleans and got along well with all the supernaturals alike. Soon enough, tensions started to arise within the supernatural world. It became a battle of witches vs werewolves vs vampires when it came to ruling the city.
The Catapang family were smart and decided to quickly, and quietly leave New Orleans before damage came their way. They eventually made their way to Mystic Falls, Virginia, where they became more low-key in the world of witchcraft and the supernatural.
Cordelia was born on July 13th, 1989 to twenty-three year old Nina Catapang. Her mother raised her alone and she never met her father. All she knew was that her father's name was Richard. Her mother fell in love with Richard when they were both 17 years old.
They were together for almost five years before they ended their relationship. Not long after the relationship ended, Nina found out she was pregnant. She decided against telling Richard and raised the baby on her own.
Cordelia's powers already started to become strong at a young age. Nina, her mother, and her sisters would slowly teach the young Cordelia how to control her powers. Her grandmother created a bracelet for her to wear in order to help restrain her powers until she was old enough to be able to manage her powers on her own.
At the young age five, Cordelia lost her mother. She was killed by a newly transitioned vampire while she was on her way home from work. He came from behind, catching her off guard. As Nina laid on the cold, dirty grown, tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she thought about her little girl who was at home with her mother and sister.
"Cordy" Nina called out softly for her daughter, a tear falling down her cheek as she knew she was dying. She was too weak to use her magic to heal herself.
In the corner of her eye, she spotted a figure walking towards her. Her vision started to blur, but as he approached her, she started to get a clear look of him. A tall man with dark hair and blue eyes.
"Who's Cordy?" the man asked.
Nina was only able to make out the word daughter. The man nodded and sighed, crouching down beside Nina's body. She looked up at him. Was he going to put her out of her misery?
"Listen carefully" the man started. "I can help you. All you have to do is drink my blood."
Before Nina could think anything of it, the man bit down on his wrist and shoved it towards her mouth. Nina too weak to even protest tasted the irony liquid in her mouth, swollowing it. Her eyes drooped and Nina took her last breath.
When Nina awoke, she found herself laying on a couch in a room she did not recognize. She slowly rose up, an intense thirst hitting her. "Ah you're awake" she heard a man's voice behind her. Nina turned and saw the man from earlier.
"Who are you?" she asked. The man smirked at her. "The name's Damon Salvatore" he said making his way towards her. The way Nina's eyes flickered towards him meant she had heard about him before. As he made his way towards her another wave of thirst hit her. A thirst for blood.
"You need to complete your transition" he said handing her a glass of human blood. Nina looked at the glass in her hand, contemplating.
"You don't drink, you die, and you won't be able to see Cordy ever again". Nina's eyes looked back up to Damon's when he mentioned her daughter's name. She sighed deeply and brought the glass towards her lips and drank the thick, red, liquid.
It was in that moment that Nina decided she would keep her distance from her family, especially her daughter so that she could keep her safe and never harm her. With the help from Damon, she would hide in the shadows and try to control her new vampire instincts.
She would let her family believe she was good as dead, which she technically was.
Cordelia's grandmother got news in the morning of her seemingly missing daughter when the police arrived at their front door. They found her belongings and blood on the ground, near her work. No body was found, but the police said by the looks of it, it wasn't too good.
As a month passed and no new on her daughter's missing body, Cordelia's grandmother decided it was time to move out of mystic falls. Cordelia, young and unaware about her mother's whereabouts always asked of her mother. All she would get from her grandmother was "she's gone".
Cordelia got into the backseat of her grandmothers car, while her aunt was putting the last of their things in the trunk. Once everything was in, Cordelia's grandmother and aunt got into the car. All three looking at the house that was once Nina's for the last time.
After a brief moment, Cordy's grandmother sighed, turned on the car and sped off leaving behind Mystic Falls, and heading towards Charlottesville, Virginia.
It wasn't until Cordelia was 16 years old when she found out more about her biological father. It was during this time that her werewolf curse was broken after she was at a party in the woods with a bunch of her friends. It was that night Cordy accidentally killed the a boy who kept coming onto her.
Drew would not seem to take no as an answer. They were secluded, away from their friends. At first it was just talking, but then Drew leaned in to kiss her. At first Cordelia was fine with it, but then he started getting too handsy, slowly lifting up her shirt. Cordelia's hands grabbed his to stop him and mumbled no against his lips, though Drew kept trying to lift it off. Cordelia pushed Drew off her causing him to lose his balance. Before she could reach Drew's hand, he fell backwards, a crack sound echoing in the dark indicating that he hit his head.
Activating her wolf curse, her grandmother decided it was time to let Cordelia know more about her father's side. She finds out that he was a werewolf. The crescent moon like birthmark that sits on her right shoulder on her back comes from the crescent wolf pack. She learns that her father was a Labonair from New Orleans. Cordelia's grandmother tells her only of what she knows, which is Richard was killed, along with his wife.
Cordelia discovers that she also has a half-sister two years younger than her. Her name was Andréa, though her grandmother does not know much about her and assumes she is dead as no one has seen or heard of Andréa since the night of her parents' murder.
As Cordelia got older, her curiosity to get to know more of her father's side became more and more apparent. She wanted to know more about her werewolf side.
When she turned 21, Cordelia decides to drop out of nursing school and head to New Orleans in search of more answers about her father's side of the family. She assumes everyone on her father's side is dead, though she wants to see if she could get answers and fill in the gaps that her grandmother was unable to give.
As she packed her car with her things, she turned towards her grandmother and her aunt. She gave them each a long hug. Her aunt wishing her the best, and her grandmother hoping she gets the answers the she seeks.
Cordelia gets into her car and looks at her family, giving them a smile and blowing a kiss their way before starting her car and heading off towards New Orleans. Towards a new start.
Liza Soberano as Cordelia Catapang
Shay Mitchell as Nina Catapang
